The differences between the urban core and rural periphery and the policies that reduce them; how migration has changed UK population geography; and how the changing balance of economic sectors, globalisation and FDI have reshaped the economy.

What this dot point is asking

This is Edexcel GCSE Geography B (1GB0) Paper 2, Section B (Topic 5, The UK's evolving human landscape). Edexcel expects you to explain the differences between the urban core and rural periphery (in population density, age structure, economic activity and settlement) and how UK and EU government policies have tried to reduce them; how national and international migration over the past 50 years has changed UK population geography and increased diversity; and how the decline of primary and secondary sectors, the rise of tertiary and quaternary sectors, globalisation, free trade and privatisation have reshaped the economy and increased foreign direct investment (FDI) and the role of TNCs.

The core and the periphery

The UK's human geography is unevenly developed, creating a core-periphery pattern.

Migration and population change

The UK's population geography has been reshaped by migration over the past 50 years.

The changing economy

The structure of the UK economy has transformed over the last century.

The primary sector (farming, fishing, mining) and secondary sector (manufacturing) have declined sharply because of overseas competition, mechanisation and resource exhaustion (the closure of coal mines and heavy industry hit the North, Wales and Scotland hardest). At the same time the tertiary sector (services, retail, finance) and quaternary sector (research, IT, biotechnology) have grown, concentrated in the South East and major cities. This shift has changed the employment structure of different regions, deepening the core-periphery divide.

Globalisation, free-trade policies (UK and EU) and privatisation have increased foreign direct investment (FDI) and the role of TNCs in the UK, for example foreign-owned car plants, supermarkets and banks. These have brought jobs and investment but also made the economy more exposed to global competition and decisions made overseas.

Try this

Q1. State two differences between the UK's urban core and rural periphery. [2 marks]

• Cue. Any two of higher population density, a younger age structure, more high-value economic activity, or denser settlement in the core, versus the opposite in the periphery.

Q2. Explain one way international migration has changed the UK's population. [3 marks]

• Cue. Migration from the EU and Commonwealth has added young working-age people, concentrated mainly in cities, increasing the population, changing its distribution and age structure, and increasing ethnic and cultural diversity.